Caravan to Turkey

Tuesday, 30 April 2013 at 21:07 Just about ready..........probably...I think...

Off at 9.00am in the morning.....M25 >tunnel>St Quentin...stop. That name rings a bell, better lock the car.

Weather in Switzerland looking kind of wet.....

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Caravan to Turkey

Well, it's off for a three month caravan tour to Turkey (and hopefully back) on May the first.

After the similar length trip to Morocco 18 months ago, the preparations, if no less thorough, are a bit less frantic as there are fewer unknowns....er, I think. Sue has been very busy planning the campsites along the route to meet up with the seven other adventurers in San Marino. We've decided to travel through Switzerland and now have a plan that has a maximum travel of 250ish miles in a day. Unlike Morocco, we will not stay on after the guided part of the tour in Turkey itself - it's 5 guided weeks, so should be enough time to absorb the culture. We've purchased the Swiss motorway vignettes on the 'net for the car and van..they will get here in time...


I've added a rear view camera to the caravan, which works a treat. This should make the tricky manoeuvring exercises a little less so as the van is 1cm under 8m long. A bargain priced new Garmin Nuvi sat nav off Ebay with Greece and Turkey maps looks to be a good tool...fingers crossed - I've loaded the GPS coordinates for all the campsites onto it and treated it to a SD card to hold all the data. It's much easier to use than Esmirelda (the Treg's sat nav)..it's so difficult to get the Treg into the study. As before, we'll take a full sized spare wheel for the Treg and two spares for the 'van.

Still not sure how to communicate on the tour as there are problems with Turkish SIM cards. I might just rely on WiFi as and when.We'll see. Taking the satellite dish...can't miss F1. I still remember watching it in Agadir on RTL while listening to radio 5 live over 3G (can be done on Morocco!) with 20 seconds delay. 

Anyway...we're now getting into planning mode and really looking forward to this. Next blog when we're underway.

Car:         VW Touareg 3.0 TDI
Caravan:  Sterling Elite Searcher Twin Axle

Vietnam Impressions

Thursday, 28 March 2013 at 16:01

On Vietnam....

Landing in Hanoi, there is noise and apparant chaos with motorbikes buzzing everywhere, seemingly intent on gunning down poor pedestrians. Not many people walk because it's so damn difficult; the pavements are full of tables, chairs, people, motorbike parks....so you have to walk in the crazy traffic most of the time.

Take a longer look, though, and it becomes apparant that all this actually works...in fact there is a buzz of industry here, with people intent on grafting a living however they can. The government have managed to unleash a hotbed of human endeavour that's growing the economy and changing at an alarming rate; it's a country of young people socialising on the street with their motorbike mobility. A guy needs a bike to get a girl and a girl needs a bike to be seen.....Bikes act as transport for goods of all sorts. It is possible to cross the road without mishap if one walks slowly, too.

Most parents are very ambitious for their children...those that can afford to send their children to extra classes in the evenings and weekend English Language schools abound.

Houses are generally family owned with children looking after their elderly parents. With the large increase in university education, though, marriage now takes place later, in the late twenties, and this may limit the size of families and slow the frightening population boom....and will so many educated women still give up work?

With massive Samsung and Canon factories, the communist government is clearly intent on working with major corporations and the centre of Ho Chi Minh City is an impressive sight. Pavements are clear of street sellers and it could be mistaken for a western city...apart from those motorbikes. Mass transit systems are absent, but that 'bike gives people a massive sense of freedom of mobility; if only it didn't kill so may of them: Yin-Yang.

Of course there are problems. A guy really shouldn't take a late night walk in the tourist city of Na Trang for example, unless he is looking for a particular type of entertainment. A massive increase in tourism brings its own set of dangers of course.

The Mekong Delta, while beautiful, shows that earning a living can be very very hard indeed. It will be fascinating indeed to watch how this unique country develops over the next few years...and how relations with its powerful neighbour play a part in that.

On the Vietnamese....

Detetmined, hard working, patient, forgiving, gentle, superstitious, ambitious....

Generalisations of course...." but what is past is past and we look to the future"....

Lessons for all of us, I think.

On SAGA tourism...

Sociable, enjoyable, great hotels and a top class guide. A massive amount of information in two weeks.

I know it's me but I have a few problems doing it like this. Balancing the high(ish) life with doing our own thing for 10 days made the visit just about a perfect combination for us though.

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Vietnam Adventure: Heading Back

Thursday, 28 March 2013 at 10:03

......on Thai flight YG916 from Bangkok to London Heathrow....

Up at 6.30..final pack...check out (1,200,000 Dhong for three nights which not a lot..not quite the 5 star of a couple of weeks ago but somehow infinitely more satisfying and connected)...taxi to airport..onto Thai flight to Bangkok.

As we pull up over Ho chi Minh City, the emotion hits us...we don't speak as we see the city (and Georgina) fade away below us.

Fourteen hours into another life....

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Vietnam Adventure: Last Night

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 at 08:57

A day with George and Tom in Ho Chi Minh City...

Great just to explore the city at leisure with our two expert local guides...and, of course, it's really good to share time with G & Tom. ....hang out in cafes, visit famous French Colonial Post Office, visit Museum of Fine Art before heading back for shower and packing.

Out in the evening for meal at a French restaurant George has discovered....no table, but George sorts this out and we have cocktails and spring rolls in the lounge before taking our table. Great meal.....G tries hard to pay for it all but this is our treat..after all it's over a million Dhong!.....

...so George reverts to plan B and treats us to an (expensive) drink in the bar near the top of the tallest tower in Ho Chi Minh City.....a moment we will never forget....the city spread below us, as far as the eye can see. This really hammers home the sheer scale of Saigon. All this to the pounding background of a DJ playing Saigon's latest music...which isn't subtle, let me tell you. Although I might have preferred a little late night Jazz, this is a truly magic moment..one of those special moments in time when circumstance and location come together to cement a memory that you know won't fade....

Saying goodnight...and goodbye for 8 months or so is so hard. What an experience these two have created for themselves.

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Vietnam Adventure: Ho Chi Minh City

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 at 09:36

George working today so we have a street food bruch with G & Tom near home/hotel ... pork & rice ... excellent....then drink in District 1.

G & Tom off to Vietnamese class and work while we visit the War Remnants Museum.....
....while this museum doesn't attempt anything other than to depict the horrors inflicted upon Vietnam by the American war effort.....it has a big impact on us. Over and above the sheer scale of human suffering, the on-going legacy of chemical spraying, especially 'agent orange' with its lethal dioxin content is hard to take. We have seen many resulting deformaties at first hand, but none as bad as those depicted here.....and still it continues into the third generation with its DNA damage.

Takes us some time to recover from the experience.

Meet G for a fruit smoothie on the street before bed.

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Vietnam Adventure: Ho Chi Minh City

Monday, 25 March 2013 at 01:37 .

...in Ho Chi Minh City with George... Lazy morning then eat street food with George and Tom...I have the staple pork and rice but it tastes like heaven with killer fish sauce and chilli. Then G & Tom take us to a wierd little cafe called the Princess and the Pig...up a back alley, four flights of stairs, take off our shoes and we sit on floor cushions in a little private area of the cafe. Free Vietnamese tea while the owner makes up our iced coffee and shakes. Free WiFi and we stay and chat through three free top ups of ice tea....brilliant.

Tom leaves for home and we visit the Reunification Palace with our new guide, G. It's a progressive 60's design..West meets East..the architect trained in France and it shows. To me, it's an elegant statement of power. Ngo Dinh Diem never saw his dream completed and his successor as South Vietnamese President, Nguyen Van Thieu used it until his flight in 1975. Fascinating bunker beneath the palace and the war operations area. The electronic communications equipment is a stark reminder of the almost unbelievable pace of change in this area. Of course, things changed when Ho Chi Minh's tank came crashing through the gates to end the war.

Sort out room in hotel opposite G's apartment and move across. Good room for 16 dollars a night...! Eat takeaway in G's flat as she doesn't feel brilliant....order lime chicken tacos on the 'net, text arrives one minute later, food arrives 20min later. Not Bad...and neither is the food.

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Vietnam Adventure: Mekong Delta

Sunday, 24 March 2013 at 06:01 Mekong Delta....

Up at 5 am, shower, check out, breakfast and then walk with the group to board the boat that will take us to the floating market which is, according to the guide, the largest on the Delta.....

.....as we travel deeper into the Delta we see many 'stilt houses' bordering the river and the odd high speed boat returning with purchases made at market. The boats are almost all powered by engines bolted onto a propeller shaft that's dipped into the water......so common in third world countries.

Then we reach the market and small boats pull alongside selling various things....I am immediately sucked in by two small children being used to sell...child labour I guess...but I buy a Fanta and later we get an iced coffee. It's clear that the market forms a key role in the region's infrastructure from large scale wholesale through to selling small scale goods. Actually, it's a pretty effective system, with the river providing the ideal transport system...so glad we did this.

On the way back, we see massive barges loaded with sand (or dried river mud) so that they just about float above the water....empty, they tower above us so it must be pretty deep this river. Call to see a rice noodle factory (grain to noodle) virtually all by hand....incredible: skilled and ingenious!!! Also visit a fruit farm & sample the fruit. We buy Jackfruit and share with backpackers.....great chat, great stories.

Back to the hotel, buy lunch then onto the coach for the long journey back to Saigon. Some of the group go off with our guide to complete the three day extended tour, while we get a nutter who sleeps, eats, plays the guitar and sings....but forgets to tell us anything about arrival time, where we are, comfort stops..get the idea? Give the driver a couple of dollars though....goodbyes...

Bavk in Crazy Ho Chi Minh City, get a drink, walk around, get a meal at Santas Italian!....serves all food types though....Really good meal..highly recommended..backpacker land not high class, that is. Back to G & Tom's ... Tom sorts us out....shower off the deet...G still at work.

Log on..check out Malasian GP ... controversy...Vettel wins but after JB gets that Crap McClaren (CM) into 5th they screw up the pit stop again and damage a wheel....retirement later. Heads must roll, I think.

G comes home about 9.30 after her incredibly long day and they eat a take away while de-stressing.... Sort out about hotels tomorrow I guess. And so to bed....

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Vietnam Adventure: Mekong Delta

Saturday, 23 March 2013 at 06:13

Get up at 6 at George & Tom's and juggle for the shower then take taxi to travel agent's to start the Mekong Dekta tour. Grab some breakfast yoghurt and banana from nearby shop and a iced milky coffee from a cafe.

Collected by agent and board a big red bus that is largely full of backpackers... must be something to do with the extremely high price we have shelled out. Something tells me this might be slightly different from the first part of our Vietnamese adventure...which is probably quite a good thing...a change is as good as.....

Long journey to the Mekong. Stop along the way to see traditional Vietnamese music (brilliant), a 4 seater traditional boat trip through some Mekong creeks and pass factories bagging up thousands of tons of rice. We board a larger boat to take us first to Turtle Island where we have lunch and then further into the delta on the coach to our hotel.

Hotel room a bit like a damp prison cell but, hey, maybe I'm getting a bit too used to the high life. The tour we nearly booked at a hotel was ten times the cost....with the change, I could buy a motorbike....

...but I digress...we buy a meal out for next to nothing. A bottle of Saigon Red is almost 50p here..hell!

Check out qualifying for Malasian GP...Ferrari OK but another dismal McClaren performance but JB seems a bit happier with the car...happier is a relative term here.

As I sink into to the rock-hard damp matress, I refect on the varied life we lead and what a great bunch of people the backpackers are.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh

Friday, 22 March 2013

Decide to do the tourist trail and visit Hoi An old town sights, leaving George and Tom to chill on their last day before work...and a good decision it was...we see old meeting houses, museums, ancient houses (with families still living in them) and generally soak up the vibe..and the local beer. Really enjoy this; what a fantastic place.

Return to hotel and check out...meet G & Tom then eat an incredibly cheap 5 course meal before getting taxi to airport. Flight delayed by one hour.....no explanation until halfway through the flight when up pops the unexpected voice of the English captain to tell us about the bad weather.....did the Vietnamese get an explanation I missed??? Anyway, nice smiles all round so who could possibly get grumpy?

Back to G & Tom's apartment ... make up the bed, sort day sack with a change of clothes for the Delta.....Bed!

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Vietnam Adventure: Hoi An

Thursday, 21 March 2013 at 10:44

Up at 4...catch bus at 5..rolls for breakfast (I survive on wheat free oat bar)...1 hour drive to My Sun, ruins of Champa Hindu temples set in a fertile valley...and they are truly amazing. The Champa bricks survived the American bombing in many places and restoration is underway. It looks like a scene from a film set...Hindu temples swallowed up by jungle, only this is for real.

Decide to take boat trip for part of the way back & end up visiting the carving village we visited last time we were here! Great trip though. Have pressed sugar cane drink on the dockside then back to hotel.

We hire a 'bike again and, wierdly, arrive at the beach bike park at the the same time as G & Tom...George on her ancient, rattling Honda. Give the parking attendant 100,000 D notes instead of 10,000 but realise mistake as we walk away..they're not that different! Gives them back after I prise open his wooden box and G goes ballistic at him in Vietnamese...very bad thing and highly unusual apparantly.

We have good fish lunch and then meet up with G & T. Back to hotel, meeting lots of speeding lorries busses and taxis on the wrong side of the road...!!...must be hell for Sue on the back but she's a great passenger.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hoi An

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 at 10:26

Great night's sleep ... this old hotel is just fine...even the dodgy taps in the (very) wet room are fine. Guess we adjust quickly & it's more relaxing when we are under our own steam. Have scrambled eggs for breakfast then nip out to post cards..

George and Tom give us a ring and we meet up back at the hotel. We hire a motorbike and head off for the beach..G & Tom use the quieter roads here (all things are relative!) ... G to hire a semi automatic Honda like the one she's thinking of buying (they're much cheaper) and Tom to try a 'bike for the first time.

After their mini adventure we meet up at the beach after lunch. Good lunch at another beachside restaurant...really nice woman running it...astute businesswoman I guess.

We walk around this magical town in the evening before eating on the riverside. Book up sunrise trip to My Sun ... early to bed..getting up at 4am.

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Vietnam Adventure: Hoi An (again)

Tuesday, 19 March 2013 at 06:35

Get up in a daze, check out, along with assorted pilots and cabin crew, say goodbye to 5 star luxury as G & T arrive in taxi at 4.30 am to pick us up on the way to the airport. Great flight with VietJetair.com.....Vietnam's (excellent) private answer to Easyjet. G marks pupils' tests on the way!

45 minute taxi trip to Hoi An hotel....certainly not 5 star but perfectly acceptable! Free WiFi though....

Decide to hire motorbikes and ride out to the beach, 4/5 km away. George gives me a quick (good) lesson and trip round the block...then Sue hops on the back and we're off, G disappearing at a rate on knots through the buzzing traffic...manage to keep up and suddenly the brain engages, the controls become more automatic and we're really enjoying the ride. Reminds me of times gone by...now, where's my parka?

Pay the parking man 10,000 D each to look after the 'bikes (which is apparantly twice as much as Saigon) and find spot on a great chilled backpacker style beach. Eat at one of the many beach restaurants. After lunch, George and Tom start playing Chinese Chess on the beach, I doze off...when I wake up there are about 15 Chinese tourists closely involved in the game!.....after about an hour and a short pause they start another game and a beach seller of sunglasses forgets about his job and gets totally absorbed in the game...for ages...

Return on the 'bikes and after shower, go out for walk and meal.

Brilliant day

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Vietnam Adventure: Ho Chi Minh City

Monday, 18 March 2013 at 05:50

Get up, get breakfast & nip out to the largest indoor market in Saigon while waiting for G to clean the apartment! Fail to buy travel watch as I don't want a bloody great big Rolex.

Sit on park and are approached by three students who are given the task of accosting innocent tourists to improve their English skills. They are pleased we're actually English because we ask questions and generally engage in conversation unlike the Americans who just talk...apparantly..seems totally out of character to me. 'My' students are telecoms & accounting and it's a really interesting 20 mins...then G texts and it's time to get a taxi...

Taxi gets lost then, suddenly,  we see George...so so strange to see her standing there in her crazy adopted home city but so so great to see her after six months. It's kind of wierd to be sitting with her and Tom in their apartment..the wierdness is that it feels totally normal to be doing this. G feels this too. Tom & G are fine.

G takes us to a chilled cafe where we eat & G adds cabin baggage to our flight booking. A load of G's friends turn up and say Hi. G takes us to a travel shop she has used and we book a weekend trip for just us to the Mekong Delta while G is working..we will see the floating markets as well as villiages....then it's 'bye to G & T and back to the hotel.

Eat some fried rice at the roadside as a snack before going back. Off to Hoi An in the morning..up at 3:15!!!!

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Vietnam Adventure: Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, 17 March

Saigon day 2 Trip to the Cuchi Tunnels today. Man gave a really balanced account of the conflict while describing the horror of fighting from the tunnel system and the horror of the American weaponary including Agent Orange. We then watched a proaganda film on the conflict, but it did give some understanding of the Vietnam heros and heriones of the war.

Sue and I crawl through two tunnels, one very narrow indeed.....look at the traps at the tunnel entrances and a clever smoke distribution system that allowed underground cooking without creating a plume of smoke. What a bloody awful conflict this was...and ultimately pointless from an American point of view.

Lunch at Monsoon Thai restaurant then back to the hotel to get our heads around life outside the protective SAGA group cocoon...

Farewell dinner goes well even if it's the only English cuisine we have eaten...we win the raffle and get a metal rickshaw with working chain and bits..wow! As much wine as you want. Man says goodbye to us over his speechifying microphone as we are staying on and won't see people again...Sue says thanks and a few nice things...pretty impressed - never ceases to surprise me this woman. Everyone we have chatted to comes over and says a fond farewell..hugs kisses and manly handshakes abound. Oh the emotion!

BONUS! See replay of Australian GP when we go up.....God..that McClaren is BAD. If I wasn't on this adventure, I might get depressed.

See George tomorrow!

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Vietnam Adventure: Ho Chi Minh City

Saturday, 16 March 2013 at 10:09 Ho Chi Minh City...

Well here we are in Saigon after a good flight with a dodgy landing. Had time for a walk along the seafront and a drink at a cafe before we left the developing super-resort of Nha Trang.

Interesting chat with an Auzzie on the plane...had met up with her parents who live in Germany & was off back to work on Monday.

Definitely an odd feeling coming in to land, knowing George is living somewhere down there in this bustling communist town with a western vibe. Didn't expect the high rise super-modern office blocks in the centre. Motorbikes and scooters everywhere but far more cars than Hanoi. Forced to pointlessly march through a retail market at high speed before we booked in at the hotel, which is fine, but no free WiFi in the rooms so rely on SIM for updates on F1....GP tomorrow.

Evening boat cruise up the Saigon river with a great meal, including live traditional music and dance before crashing out in the hotel.

Talk to G and arrange to meet Monday middayish.
Qualifying postponed to tomorrow because of Australian rainstorm....

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Vietnam Adventure: Nah Trang 2

Friday, 15 March 2013 at 16:02 Nha Trang... Big storm in the night. Rest of group off on boat trip to island and sit on stony beach. I feel crap and back out...Sue doesn't fancy the boat trip so we both stay in. I fall asleep on the terrace in this brilliant room-with-a-sea-view while Sue locks herself out and can't make me hear...gets another key!..then..

Spend most of the day on the hotel's beach loungers in wind and patchy sunshine..but perfect for migraine recovery therapy. Interesting challenge crossing the (very) busy road between hotel and beach. Everytime Sue tries by herself, a guy with a kind of Novotel lolipop leaps to her assistance while I have near death experiences. On the beach, I order a coconut milk which comes as a chopped off coconut with straw and spoon...excellent! Sue sticks to the local brew. Feel almost 100% now.

Returnees from island trip filter down to the beach in the late afternoon and we learn that it wasn't much cop...great day to have a migraine.....could I get away with a minor one when the GP is on??. Follow practice 1 on the beach via Vietmobile Sim card in the old Galaxy S. McClaren in deep mire...hell.

Shower and walk along front to beach cafe, where we have beer and Vietnamese nibbles. Spoilt a little by rowdy drunken Russians playing their own (loud) music....a wierd mix of British classics. Interesting, though, as we had heard from tour guide that this (drunken holidaymakers) is a common problem as are the late night hookers...that explains the condoms in the hotel minibar...looks as if the hookers are cheaper than the hotel condoms.

Return to the hotel after stopping at a quite cool streetside coffee bar and sort put what we are doing tomorrow...Then it's a free buffet in the hotel. We are almost last and have to start a new table but are joined by Ron and Sandie and two other Scots. Great food...I haven't really eaten since yesterday lunch and I really enjoy the instant cooking of fish & meat with amazing sauces...try chilli/limejuice/sugar/salt/chive... Great conversation and we are the last out by some margin. Nice that everyone stops to chat on the way put...discuss the serious problem of McClaren's woes with David the ex rally driver.

Back to room...pack...bed...write up diary. Saigon tomorrow. NB...have decided to back out of the one day Mekong Delta trip and sort a two-day trip ourselves next weekend while G is working..that way we also see the floating markets. That leaves Monday to sort ourselves out and see G.

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Vietnam Adventure: Nah Trang

Thursday, 14 March 2013 at 15:37 Nah Trang..... Check out at 8.00am and catch 10.10 Vietnam Airlines little turboprop to Nha Trang....ferried to aquarium and whizz round at a trot. We and another couple don't keep up because we stop to look at fish.....

Lunch...now Man the man has been so brilliant at getting wheat free for me but he forgets this time...and half way through I twig this and get some wheat free cooked...cross fingers. Next visit Hundu temple built by Champa people...also see dance performed from this culture. Brilliant stuff but not enough time really.....also feeling a bit naff with headache creeping on.

...then on to see massive Buddha on a hill....climb up 120 steps or so and it's truly MASSIVE....headache getting bad. Wouldn't have missed this though.... And so onto the hotel..check in and crash + pain killers....and that's it for the night. Sue stays in too.

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